6 university cuties to face off at Miss Science beauty pageant

Shiho Nakaoka, Waseda University Graduate School of Advanced Science and Engineering, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry (1st year master's candidate, biochemistry)

TOKYO —

At Japanese universities, female science and engineering majors are definitely in the minority. Even in Tokyo, it’s not uncommon for ladies to make up less than 10% of enrollment for science departments. But the elusive “rikei joshi,” or “science girl,” does exist and Japanese student organization CURIE is holding a pageant called “Miss Rekei Contest” to give them a chance to prove they’ve got beauty as well as brains.

The pageant will be held on Sept 12 at the Kitazawa Town Hall located about 10 minutes from Shimokitazawa station in Tokyo.

The contestants hail from some of Tokyo’s top universities and are majoring in fields from programming to biology.

1. Shiho Nakaoka
Waseda University Graduate School of Advanced Science and Engineering, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry (1st year master’s candidate, biochemistry)

So, ... these women hold degree in Science, and some are still studying hard to get one, but the contest they'll be participating is a BEAUTY pageant contest !? Okay, so it's a Miss RIKEI contest, what kind of questions are they going to ask a Biochemist and an Engineer that would prove one is "smarter" than the other !? In the end it's just a beauty contest ...

A heart of gold beats both easily in my humble opinion, and my dating history proves that. None of these shallow beauty contests ever judge the heart, and even the most callous, greedy, evil witch can win so long as she puts on even the phoniest show.

To those criticizing the contest: it's just for fun. If any of those women objected "objectifying," they would simply not enter the competition. Since none of them complain, why should any of you jump into either "defending" them or putting them down in any way?

It's good to see people are trying all kind of things to improve the image of the woman scientist, maybe this will lure more girls into the science and engineering departments. This is by no means a problem limited to Japan. However, one of the main obstacles is, if these girls were to stay in research, they will have very little time for their family. And many women are turned off by this.

Another issue is that a cutie in a lab full of males means lots of trouble. I've had such a student, cute, highly educated, the guys were all in love with her. The funny thing is that outside of the lab, she could not find a boyfriend, since the typical J male was scared off by her educational background

My favorites are Akira Hayashi and Shino Nakaoka, they are adorable.
But all girls from the contest are beautiful (because they not only have physical beauty, but also brains).
There should be much more girls in science! Japanese girls, gambatte kudasai!

Ugh. It's awesome that these ladies are fierce, pretty and smart. But their accomplishments in the sciences should be admired as human beings, not reduced to this supposed fundamental value of a woman: being pretty.... they've earned so much more than that and this is stupid.

NO! They can not have a Mr. Universe contest of science. It would be called, SCIENCE GUY ON STEROIDS. Men are not judged by their looks. Einstein would not have won any beauty contests. No six pack abs on him. No figure of Hercules. Women are judged by their looks and are not to be expected to have any active grey matter between their ears.

"Like! Can anybody tell me what's one plus one is ?"

What would happen if men were judged by the same superficial standards as women are judged by?